Oct. 24, 2007
Dryden Flight Research Center
P.O. Box 273
Edwards, California 93523
Phone 661/276-3449
FAX 661/276-3566
Beth Hagenauer
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
661-276-7960
beth.hagenauer@nasa.gov John Bluck
NASA Ames Research Center
650-604-5026
jbluck@arc.nasa.gov RELEASE: 07-58
NASA AIRCRAFT AIDING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FIREFIGHTING EFFORT
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE – In response to a request from the
California Office of Emergency Services and the National Interagency
Fire Center, NASA is flying an aircraft equipped with sophisticated
infrared imaging equipment today to assist firefighters battling
several of the Southern California wildfires.
The Ikhana unmanned aircraft system, a Predator B modified for civil
science and research missions, was launched about 8:45 a.m. PDT from
its base at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force
Base. It is expected to fly over the major blazes burning in the Lake
Arrowhead and Running Springs areas and possibly down into San Diego
County to image wildfires raging in that area. The aircraft is
controlled remotely by pilots in a ground control station at NASA
Dryden.
The Ikhana is carrying the Autonomous Modular Scanner, a
thermal-infrared imaging system developed at NASA's Ames Research
Center in Northern California. The system is capable of peering
through heavy smoke and darkness to see hot spots, flames and
temperature differences, processing the imagery on-board, and then
transmitting that information in near real time so it can aid fire
incident commanders in allocating their firefighting resources.
The images are transmitted through a communications satellite to NASA
Ames where the imagery is placed on an Ames Web site, combined with
Google Earth maps, and then transmitted to the interagency fire
center in Boise, Idaho, where it is then made available to incident
commanders in the field.
The system was validated recently during a series of wildfire imaging
demonstration missions conducted by NASA and the U.S. Forest Service
in August and September.
Mission managers indicated a second imaging flight may occur on
Thursday, Oct. 25, as well. Each flight is being coordinated with the
FAA to allow the remotely piloted aircraft to fly within the national
airspace while maintaining separation from other aircraft.
Also, a NASA satellite has captured remarkable imagery of the
wildfires. To view and download images and for additional
information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/socal_wildfires_oct07.html
For additional images and more information about the wildfire imaging
flight please visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/home/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/newsphotos/index.html
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